Heck reaches blood donor milestone

"I'd give more if I could, but you have to wait so long in between," she said. "It's really a simple thing to do and they always need it."

Heck has been a regular American Red Cross blood donor since the early 1970s. And on Wednesday she was awarded a certificate for reaching a milestone - 100 pints given.

Virginia Thiel, American Red Cross coordinator for the Pigeon Area Women's Club, said Heck is the first person she's known to accomplish the feat since she began helping to sponsor blood drives in 1980.

"She's usually the first person through the door," Thiel said about Heck. "If she's not first, second, or third, I start to worry."

The Pigeon group puts on an average of four blood drives a year at the village's Veterans of Foreign Wars hall and Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port High School.

Heck said she's sure there's a few other Pigeon blood-drive regulars that are on the heals of matching her accomplishment.

"Some of the guys always ask me if I gave," she said. "If I did and they missed it, they always say, 'Darn it.'"

Heck said while having given 100 pints is exciting, her goal always has been to live out the Golden Rule.

"I always think that it could help save the lives of my loved ones and someone else's," she said. "I know I don't want my loved ones to die because nobody gives (blood). I hope other people feel the same way."

Despite having regular blood donors like Heck, Thiel said more committed troops are needed. She said young people are needed to start replacing elderly regulars who become unable to give blood because of medication they take and various other reasons.

The American Red Cross reports that of it's eight million annual blood-donating volunteers, about half come from the United States. But only about 5 percent of the eligible U.S. population donates in an average year.

Thiel said that because blood has a limited storage life, the American Red Cross often experiences shortages. Someone in the United States needs blood every 2 seconds, according to the American Red Cross.

In order to donate blood, a person must be at least 17 years old, weigh 110 pounds, be in good health, and not have given previously in at least 56 days.

Thiel said young people are most commonly turned away form donation centers because of tattoos. She said a person must wait to give blood for at least a year after receiving a tattoo.

"If they can get tattoos, they can give blood," Heck said. "Surely, a tattoo has to hurt a lot more."

To learn more about how and when to give blood, log on to the American Cross website at www.givelife.org or call (800) 448-3543.